instant ajustable wind

zero wind on the lake today so out came the indoor fan i dint think it was going to be anuf to do mutch but to my suprise even on the middle seting it gave a desent blow acros the intire pool.a second fan would be nice to make it more consistant across the intire width of the pool but not itirly nesasery so just spent the last hour or two messing abouttaking some pics and under water vids.i should think it could almost be posable to make a pool in a double garge or something without to mutch hassel atall and it still be large anuf to have some fun racing.

Hi uksail,

I’ve often wondered if it would be useful to have underwater video to assess performance of hulls, keels, bulbs, & rudders. I’m guessing that any visible indications would be subtle at the very least. In your experience, were you able to see any bubbles or evidence of disturbed water that might indicate any inefficiencies with your keel & rudder?

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

it doesnt realy show a great deal tbh ill try upload it later so you can see

It would be interesting to have two different fans a few feet appart and put them in oscillate mode. If they oscillate at different rates, you may get some random patterns and some interesting wind shifts. It sounds like time for a race.

sory i realy couldnt be bothered to edit it s you will just have to skip through the crap bits there is anuther uploading now which ill add to the tread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7EmJhfXLqo

Thanks for posting the video. While I couldn’t make out any obvious turbulence or bubble tracks coming off the keel or rudder, it certainly offers a unique view of a Footy under (literally under!) sail!

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

Nice photos and video. Could I suggest you take videos horizontally, showing the keel and rudder performance from the side. Suspend the camera about 6-9 inches below the surface and sail past it. If you could use a telephoto setting of the lens, focussed at an appropriate distance, you would get a distortion-free view of any turbulence. Even better, try it at night , with lighting along the track of the boat, so any bubbles due to turbulence would show up better against the unlit background.
A potentially very informative idea!

yea i was going to try a few more angles but havnt been bothered to get in the pool i have one more vid but i didnt up load and that is alot closer to the surface and at knight i think.i may try a side angle view if i get time.

heres a litle more ive done from a boom i dont think your ever going to see any turbulace ect inless it was terably bad whatevers going on is just to small to see i would say however the shots are quite nice

again sory not edited just a stright download

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCYL72pS_ys

You’re right, it’s probably too small to see without more specialized equipment, but it’s interesting all the same. Whereabouts are you located that you can be comfortable messing about with the boat & camera in the pool at this time of year?

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

im in florida aswell at the moment west of orlando but mainly based in the uk

Have you hooked up with The Sunday Sloopers in Orlando? They sail Footys (among others), and have a great pond site at Firken & Kegler, a family entertainment, restaurant & game center (I think it’s on the SE side of Orlando). There’s also a Footy race in Sebring coming up soon and one in South Daytona coming up too. Central FL actually has a good bit of Footy activity going on. See this link:
<http://www.rcsailing.net/forum1/showthread.php?t=4864>

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

no i havnt as yet at the moment im not shore if i will be in fl. at the time of events but if i am i will defanetly head to them.most of the time i sail on the lake at the end of our garden as i made a pair of identical boats so me and my bro have little races ect.cheers charlie

Interesting pictures. As you said, no turbulence was visible. I wondered, however, why I was seeing a pixel grid in these photos but not in your previous shots. Does the camera have various picture quality levels? Night shots may still be better.

the night shots wernt much more helpful the pixel grid thing must be down to you tube as when played stright from the file you dont get it but i dont rember it being like that when i first loaded it to utube so not to shore there two diferent cameras that i used for the stil and vid.

Hi Charlie,

Will you be able to make the Tanglewood Footy Regatta this weekend in Sebring (it’s only a couple of hours south of Orlando), or are you out of Florida already?

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Ft Lauderdale, FL USA

im back in the uk at the moment not to shore when i will be back in orlando if i am at the time i will defanetly make a effot to get down.

Hi Charlie,
There’s another race set up for Jan 31 over in South Daytona Beach (two weeks after the Sebring one), and of course the the AMYA NCR in Orlando March 6-8, 2009. See the website at: <www.sundaysloopers.com> for more complete info. There’s four active groups of Footy sailors in the Central Florida area; Orlando, South Daytona, Vero Beach and Sebring, and they have been coordinating their schedules so as to not have conflicting race dates. This has been great with the lower gas prices due to the recent oil glut, but who knows how long that glut will last!

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park (Ft. Lauderdale), FL USA

wilst on the subject i went to the london boatshow today that i hadnt been to in a few years and the mya had a pool there with 5 or 6 fans along the edge of the pool and was prity cool however for some reason they had the fans right against the back wall and as a result dent realy seam to be drawing mutch air in and therefor kicking very little out on to the pool great fun and could defanetly be done on a smaller scale for footies. im wondering if it was posable to come up with a 12volt fans that could be used to avoied electricity water issues and then contact local schools with pools and hire it for a few hours in the eve like is done with indoor rc flying i have a feeling numbers would be a bit low to make it work.